On Easter the bunny brought us baby chicks.
Now this Bunny is a very cool guy. I have been trying to be self sufficient for a long time and this is the next natural step in that progression.
I have not idea what I am doing however, My husband has never raised chickens. I had chickens when I was younger but I was too young to remember just what mom and dad did to them or for them.
Now as I started to think about where to house these little chicks I remember my husband had to move a prop house to a storage unit this weekend. In doing this I offered to help him move along with our bigger & younger boys.
As we starting moving stuff I found I was watching for stuff to make my chicken coop and home decorations out of recycled and reused stuff they were going to yard sale.
There was a water bed head board that if you turn it on its side it makes three full sized laying boxes for the chicks we have.
Because, now we only have 3 chickens, I found this head board to be the perfect size.
That was until I was told by my husband that we were going to inherent 6-8 chickens that are already laying eggs. So my small flock of 3 just jumped to a moderate flock of 9-11 chickens. WOW overwhelming just a bit. The only thing I he paid for the chickens was that when the previous owner needed a 12 eggs every few weeks we could supply him with some. Ok that is a steal of a deal.
Now we really need to start on the hen house and coop for these new arrivals.
The baby chicks we got on Easter were already 10 days - 14 days old and they are starting to get frequent flyer miles on their wings inside my house. So we built a spot in the garage temporarily until we can get the hen house built and they are actually big enough to be moved. We tipped a tote upside down and cut a hole in the side and top. The side was their door. my son donated a light to them from his turtle tank and we were able use the hole in the top to put the light in and keep them warm. The last thing we did was cover the floor with card board boxes so that their poor feet were not to cold.
The rest of the chickens will be here by the end of the week so today "the boys" are getting started on the house.
The wood came from the prop house. (remember I always like to recycle and reuse if possible. Plus free was the correct price for us.)
The chicken wire that the make shift coop in the garage was donated to us by my mom and dad. Thanks. There was just enough for that so after we measured and figured out how much chicken wire we actually needed for the coop yard the one thing we need to purchase will be one more roll of chicken wire.
Our chicken house will need a roof of chicken wire for two reasons.
The chickens we are getting fly. And we have hawks and owls that frequent our area. Therefore we will cover it to keep out the air predators.
By the way , Our kitty cat has been very curious but is handling the idea of chicks very well so far. I have been so surprised his understands these little things make big noise. He watches them but doesn't seem interested in catching them in any way. He just sits and watches them then looks at me and then comes over and tries to snuggle with me. He almost seems like he is jealous.
That made them all happy. They don't know it yet but I pulled lots of stuff from the prop house to decorate my house and yard with. I can't wait to start on these fun projects. Next weeks starts a new week. I will keep you all updated and maybe post pictures on here for you once things get done.
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